Saturday, October 26, 2013

2013: The Year of The Video Game Story - IGN

There havebeen some remarkable achievements in video game storytelling in 2013. While These stories have not rewritten the rule-book Entirely – all have been built on the sturdy shoulders of what has gone before – it’s rare to find so many diverse approaches to interactive narratives in a single year. It feels like the media is shifting in focus; note only within the blockbuster space where nuance and ‘mature’ themes are quickly Becoming expected, but in the independent space, where games like Gone Home and Papers, Please are teaching the big boys lessons in telling stories with restraint.

Here’s a brief look at why 2013 has been a great year for video game storytelling so far.

(Broad spoilers ahead)

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Bioshock Infinite kicked off the year with a bang.

Retroactive storytelling

For a change, we are looking at a year where there has not just been one mainstream game with a story we have poked at and dissected and argued over, but SEVERAL. February’s BioShock Infinite was the first of These: a slickly produced fantasy thriller – or sci-fi shooter, or dystopian drama, whatever you like – that compelled players to spew out screeds of analysis into the web. What does it all mean? Is it a cautionary tale? A sly commentary on player agency? Or a tongue-twister Shyamalanic That thinks it’s smarter than it really is?

Players have argued That BioShock Infinite is all of These somethings. Whether or not you liked Infinite’s ballsy ending, I have yet to meet a person who was not later compelled to pour over the twists and turns That had gone before it. That it’s still being Discussed months later is testament to the complexity of director and writer Ken Levine’s narrative.

But at the End of the World

Both BioShock Infinite and June’s The Last of Us re-tread mainstream video game themes of masculinity and violence, but the shift away from the usual faceless protagonist driven only by the need to join a faceless fight towards more vulnerable, broken men, who commit violent acts only to Protect Those They care for – or rather, grow to care for. Interestingly, in both games a father / daughter dynamic has Replaced the soldier jock / sexy nondescript female one we might have found in the past. (2012′s The Walking Dead overpriced centered on the same dynamic.)

The Last of Us’ central relationship is wonderfully Realized, principally Because it feels plausible, and plausibility in video game worlds is rare indeed. Words go unspoken, Reflected only in body language. Minor detail in the world is actually observed by the characters as if it exists. Jokes are made casually and sometimes ignored. Ellie and Joel react to one another with fear, love, and indicates Their relationship played out cautiously over a generation gap.

While The Last of Us’ story will not change the world – this isn’ta the first videogame story about a gruff man trying to stay alive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, after all – the relationship between Joel and Ellie feels real, crushingly and beautifully real, and writer Neil Druckmann takes it in a brave direction at the game’s end. As critic Leigh Alexander asks – how does a gruff-man-at-the-end-of-the-world story get better?

I agree with her pullout: it probably does.

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Joel & Ellie’s story will likely sit with you for days.

Mysanthropy at its Finest

On the other end of the spectrum to The Last of Us’ grimy realism is Grand Theft Auto V’s exaggerated satire. In the period between each GTA game it is easy to forget That games can be this funny, this clever, and this referential; cargo month we were reminded of it as if Rockstar had slapped us in the face: do not get complacent, bitches.

Indeed, no other game dares to stick its fingers into the open wounds That Rockstar’s does. It delivers pulverizing satire, touching upon our most uncomfortable indulgences: our obsession with celebrity, our obsession with money, our apathy.

But GTA V’s greatest achievement is the way it effortlessly blends this parody into a game That is, ultimately, a ridiculous Amount of fun. As Keza put it in IGN’s review, the problem Commonly found in open-world games is the tension between our own impromptu stories and Those That the writers are trying to tell. Grand Theft Auto V accommodates both stories seamlessly; its well-written characters and biting dialogue complementing our staff brands of anarchy every step of the way.

Girls and Their Ghosts

While I had major criticisms of the story in Quantic Dream’s latest interactive drama

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